LONDON (Commodity Online) : World’s top gold consumer India along with China, USA and Saudi Arabia accounted for nearly half of world’s gold demand, according to World Gold Council.
Jewelry segment continued to drive gold demand as buyers from these four country’s accounted for 46 percent of the total buying across the globe.
India in particular with its mushrooming economy, up-coming festivals and better-than-expected harvest is expected to further strengthen sales, WGC added.
WGC said at the end of the second quarter this year, global gold demand stood at 919.8 tons, down by 17 percent year-on-year while in value terms, gold demand surged five percent to reach $44.5 billion.
Demand for gold-backed ETFs has also increased in the past few years as world equity markets collapse and the European debt crisis creates ripples across countries, experiencing a 152 percent zoom in 2008.
Physical demand for bars and coins rose by 42 percent in second quarter this year over the same period last year. Demand for technological uses of the metal remained more or less unaffected.
Mine production was the only positive contributor to the gold supply, increasing by a modest seven percent in second quarter this year, WGC added.
